Fire Light, Burning Bright
by akakurogin
Summary: [ONESHOT] Just a short look into Rei Mars's thoughts on the end of the Silver Millennium and some more recent battles. A writing exercise for another story, if you will. C&C always loved.


Title: Fire Light, Burning Bright

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon & Company do not belong to me. No sue please - college is sapping all my money as is. ----

Time changes everything. It can change good to bad, love to hate, life to death. There is only one thing time cannot change, and that is fate. That which was fated to happen will happen; no one could change that without dire consequences. That never prevented people from trying though, nor from wondering why fate wanted certain events to occur – why was the pain needed?

The last senshi of the Silver Millennium called fate cruel, as they saw their world collapse around them. They blamed it on the Earthlings, for being so afraid of the Silver Alliance as to ally with the Dark Forces itself to destroy those who watched over them. But more than the Earthlings, the senshi would blame it on fate, for deciding upon the destruction of everything they held dear.

The senshi of Mars, princess of the same, was particularly angry at fate, for working out the way it had. Why did the people of Earth have to fear the other planets so much? Why did the princes of the Moon have to fall in love with the prince of Earth? Why did their life span have to be so much longer than the humans? If the Princess Serenity showed signs of aging as the Earthlings had, they would never have suspected she was of the Moon.

Sailor Mars also blamed it on the Earth prince, as well as his companions and protectors, the Four Heavenly Kings. They learned of the existence and goodness of the Silver Alliance through Serenity and her guardians, and yet could not – no, did not – rid their people of their foolish inhibitions. They held massive power on Earth, and should have easily been able to calm the people and inform them that the Silver Alliance only wished for peace, whereas Metallia and the Dark Kingdom wished for destruction. She blamed their inability to control the people they were supposed to rule.

Even more than that, she blamed the Four Heavenly Kings. She blamed their inability to prevent their own capture and switching of sides. Sailor Mars hated infidelity, and would just as soon have bit off her own tongue than allowed anyone to convert her. She didn't understand why the shitennou had not done as much to prevent the collapse of their world, and she would never forgive them for their final return to the Moon.

That day, Sailors Mercury and Jupiter were left guarding the inner walls of the castle as Sailors Mars and Venus were out on the battlefield, wreaking havoc wherever they went. That day, she had come back, simultaneously supporting and leaning on Sailor Venus, only to find the palace gates open, four figures dressed in gray uniforms standing over two bodies, one dressed in blue and the other in green. They didn't even have time to let the shock from seeing the dead senshi settle in before another surprise bowled them flat – the four figures were none other than Endymion's companions and protectors, the Four Kings.

She wanted to kill them. In retrospect, she would realize that she couldn't even be sure they had killed her friends – given that they had just been standing by them, they could've just arrived and found the senshi dead, also. At the time though, pain and fatigue and despair and anger had been clouding her thoughts, as well as Sailor Venus's next to her, and in their tornado of emotions, the two of them had lashed out against the four men with all the red and gold energy they could muster. That energy turned out to be a lot, as they all but killed two of the four kings and actually killed the other two. Jadeite and Kunzite were still breathing though, when she and Venus crawled their way to the bodies of the deceased protectors of Earth and its Moon.

Jadeite lashed out against her with his bare fist – his sword was apparently too heavy for him to lift. Staying out of his reach, she had stared at him. There was a time when she had found herself thinking the adorable, mischievous blond king with his playful blue eyes and dancing smile was kind of cute. Right then though, she loathed the sight of his dark blue – no, black – eyes, hollow and devoid of life. To her side, she sensed Venus tugging loose the small dagger Queen Serenity had presented the leader of the senshi, and heard Kunzite groan before feeling his life slip away. Somehow, she managed to call a small flame to her fingertip, and set ablaze the grass upon which eight of the strongest warriors in the Solar System had fallen.

Upon their return a millennium later, their memories of the past had been blocked. They all had an unknown mission – to find their lieges. The only word she could think of to fit their situation was serendipity – finding something valuable you weren't searching for. But even then, fate had not allowed serendipity to work completely. The Four Kings had felt something pulling them to Japan, and convened there from the four corners of the Earth. Before they could "accidentally" find their prince, though, Beryl had recognized them for the identities hidden inside them. She had taken them captive and brainwashed them. Having completely forgotten their new lives, they once again became the four warrior kings for the Dark Kingdom.

She could also blame fate for not letting them remember who the Four Kings had been. Had they known, perhaps she would not have incinerated the one called Jadeite. Perhaps, instead, they could've had the Princess reverse the spell on them. At the very least, they would've retrieved the four stones before sealing off the entrance to the Dark Kingdom. They could've done something, anything, other than leaving the four trapped in the remnants of the Dark Kingdom, where they probably would not be able to access until the next millennium.

Then again, even if the Kings had been revived, there was no guarantee that anyone would have forgiven them. She, for one, certainly wouldn't have, not after they had betrayed their own prince twice over – the prince they were sworn to protect and to lay down their lives for. Knowing both Serenity and Endymion, however, she could safely bet they would've forgiven them without a word; in fact, they probably already granted the pardons in their hearts.

That did nothing to ease her guilt, guilt from having killed them a millennium ago, and again when they'd returned. Even though her princess never reproached them for it – indeed, they had only been thanked for protecting the peace and the future – she knew Serenity and Endymion were waiting for the return of the Four Kings. And as much as she wished to deny it, she too, was waiting for their return.

They had never formally met – only in those fleeting situations, where she had gone to Earth to retrieve her princess, had they spoken a word or two. On those occasions, she frequently ran into Nephrite, whom the prince relied upon to keep guard the most often. They had become good friends while watching over their lieges and keeping track of time. Once, though, it had not been the auburn-haired stargazer. Rather, it was a cheerful blond, with happy blue eyes and an unmatched curiosity about their world. Jadeite was interesting, and would probably have become very good friends with her. She wished they had had the time.

Someday.

Someday, the Four Kings would return, and this time, there would be no Beryl to capture them. Someday, the senshi would be formally introduced to the Four Kings, and they would become friends. Someday, she would be able to hear their explanation for destroying their world, and trying to do so again. Someday, she would be able to forgive.

It is all a part of fate, isn't it?

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'Tis short. I know. I like though. C&C?  
About SIS ... don't know if anyone still looks at it. But I don't think I'm going to finish it. I was quite young (if high school can be considered young P) when I first started writing it, and a pretty bad writer. To make up for it, I'm working on a new shitennou/senshi epic, which will shortly be posted under a different userid. Hopefully, it will embody the good ideas from SIS and none of the bad writing of a child. 


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